By Michael Doran
The heart of the Yarra Valley seems like a great place to nurture the Edible Forest Garden which has been established at the Yarra Glen Living and Learning Centre (YGLLC). The garden was started in late 2017 and Centre Manager, Debra Traill said its main purpose is to develop awareness of how people can grow their food at home.
“We started off with some garden beds, landscaping and then with a grant from Connected Communities Melbourne we were able to do more plantings,” she said.
“The garden expanded to the point where it needed a fence to bring it all together and be a safe place for kids to be in. “We are a family garden group, doing planting, garden care and also workshops in gardening and cooking the produce.
“We didn’t have the funds for the fence and our Secretary, Lisa Barry, approached the Yarra Glen Freemasons Lodge and they quickly got right behind the project.”
On Friday 14 December, Lodge Master Elect, Kevin Ryan, presented a commemorative certificate to the centre and said that making donations to the community is a key part of the Freemasons Lodge activity.
“We were approached and asked if we could lend a hand,” he said. “So we went to the Freemasons Foundation and asked for a grant of $5000 for a special project in our area, which they agreed to straight away.
Not content with providing the funds, the Yarra Glen Freemasons organised a working bee to do further improvements to the garden.
“They came in with a backhoe and built up our compost area, mulched, transplanted some trees for us, made the fairy garden up the back and did all the heavy labour. We wouldn’t have the fence or have the garden the way it is without the help of the Freemasons,” said Ms. Traill.
“For Freemasons Yarra Glen this has been a great little project,” said Mr Ryan. “In Victoria Freemasons have raised more than $4.7 million for community projects such as this and if somebody is in need we will go out of our way to help them.
“What the foundation does is it helps out with family and community health, hospitals and charities. We do scholarships for tertiary and secondary students and any other groups or people who are really down and out and haven’t got much.”
“Freemasons have donated more than $10,000 to Yarra Glen CFA and every year we have a scholarship for a primary school kid moving into High School who needs some financial help.”
More information on both organisations is at www.ygdllc@bigpond.com and www.fmv.org.au
